The description provided in the background section, including without limitation, any problems, features, solutions or information, should not be assumed to be prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with the background section. The background section may include information that describes one or more aspects of the subject technology.
Space solar arrays have been in use for over 50 years, dating back to the Vanguard satellite launched in 1958. Lightweight “flexible” substrate space solar arrays have been in use for over 30 years, dating to the Solar Array Flight Experiment (SAFE), flown on the Space Shuttle in 1985. The largest and most powerful solar arrays in use are of similar flexible substrate type, on the International Space Station (ISS). These arrays have been in use for over 10 years.
Flexible arrays have typically provided improvements in stowed volume and reduced mass compared to conventional “rigid” panel arrays. Properties such as reduced volume and mass are important to spacecraft designers interested in maximizing payload volume and mass of conventional arrays. However, disadvantages in providing the aforementioned properties as improvements to conventional arrays generally take the form of increased mechanical complexity and cost. In particular, flexible array costs are driven by mechanically complex deployer assemblies that create a large structural spar or mast from a compact stowed assembly.
Numerous deployment methods have been used in conventional flexible substrate arrays, including open-section lenticular struts, nesting open section lenticular struts, and tri and quad-longeron lattice masts. However, these methods have presented drawbacks in terms of reduced stiffness, higher weight, and great complexity. In addition, the advent of higher power and higher voltage solar arrays has exposed reliability issues associated with solar particle charging leading to arcing discharges on the arrays.